Interviews: The Getaway

Angie Lalonde writes "This interview took place after a very tired Getaway and I were almost done our long-haul overnight drive from Montreal Warped Tour to the Barrie one, it's 7am we're all hungry and unshowered, I thought what a great time to get these guys talking... You can also check out The Getaway's live show right now on tour supporting Strung Out's Eastern Canadian tour."
Click READ MORE for the whole interview.

ANGIE: So where is this interview taking place at this moment, where are we!
MATT: We’re westbound on Highway 407 on our way to the Barrie Warped Tour…
BART: We’re heading to the 400 north, which will take up approximately 45 minutes to get to Barrie at the speed of 120 kilometers an-hour, yes!
A: So is this your first time on Warped?
M: Technically this will be our second, we played in Montreal yesterday but yeah this is our first Warped Tour.
A: Van or bus?
M: definitely rocking the van…
B: Don’t tell them (laughing)
A: Last time I saw you guys was on tour with Closet Monster in November, lots has happened for you guys since then, cross-Canadian tour with Not By Choice, New Found Glory and you just played with Blink 182, has it all been a bit overwhelming?
B: It’s been awesome!
M: Yeah a lot of the cool things that happened are just what they are. I don’t know we’ve been working really hard so it’s actually nice to see after eating shit and touring when no one comes for two years trying to get your name out there, then people actually realizing oh okay I guess they’re not going to stop, I guess we might as well throw them a fucking bone. At least that’s how I see it, it took us a good two and a half years of touring and doing nothing before people realized we were serious before we got the help of Feldman and places and people like that…
A: Yeah you’re definitely getting great support tours now, you’re about to go on tour with Strung Out…
M: Yeah actually we are, I hope they keep getting better, it’s definitely a start, it’s kind of like I look at where a band is at if you look at the timeline sort of I guess we kind of finished the first stage. And now we’re starting to meet some people who can actually try to help us make a difference and who can help us out a lot more are starting to know who we are so I think the next year is going to be pretty exciting and I’m looking forward to it.
A: You also got lots of press over the legal battles for you band name…
M: ooh (laughing) That’s kind of way over in that way…
A: And now your playing Warped Tour with that certain…
M: Yeah the band that we did have to get involved with a bit over that legal stuff are on the Warped Tour…
A: Did you see them?
M: Yeah they were cool…
B: Yeah we saw them and smoked with them, they seemed pretty cool.
M: Yeah they didn’t seem to have any beef about it at all…
A: In 2001 The Getaway was #7 on HMV’s top ten punk list; do you think the endless touring caused that?
B: Nah it’s just cause we’re an awesome band (laughing)
M: No, that was before we even toured…
A: How did that happen then?
M: Our friend who works at the main HMV store put it in the listening booth and he actually worked it. Yeah that was pure who we knew, it’s more know than show in this business, anyways next question (laughing)
A: When do you guys have plans of coming out with a new record?
M: Right now we’ve recorded some demos and we’re recording a few more this week actually umm and there are a few interested parties…
B: Iron’s in the oven…
M: Yeah Iron’s in the fire…
A: So you guys are shopping it right now, it’s not necessarily going to be on Re-Define?
M: We’re shopping but we’re also doing some specific things for this one particular interested party…
A: Which you can’t reveal I guess?
M: Which we can’t really talk about right now but hopefully by press time we’ll now a lot more and we’ll be able to talk about it….
A: And because you play pop-punk and that obviously brings to mind successful bands like Blink 182 and Simple Plan have you ever or do you ever wrongly get targeted as sell-out’s?
M: Um, well I think… I mean… I don’t know that’s just message board hearsay really when people talk about it. I think anyone who knows who we are; that we’ve been friends with for a really long time and that has been going to shows with us would not think that. I know none of my friends think I am a sell-out and the other thing is too, if I decide to do something with my band the last thing I am going to be thinking about is what some seventeen year old kid is saying on a message board to influence my decision. I think it does suck when you go out and you do, do tours where your van gets broken into and shit gets stolen and you finish the tour anyways with the other bands gear, um or you come home with no money, you’re broke, your van breaks down in the middle of nowhere and then you come home and people call you sell-out’s after going through shit like that, obviously they don’t know what we’re doing and obviously they’ve never been out there doing what we’re doing. I have respect for any band that can go out there and tour on their own because I’ve done it and it’s not easy.
A: And you have a new video out on Much Music “Had To Be Said”
M: Yes even more evidence to our selling-out (laughing) but yeah we did a video we got a grant from Much Music so it didn’t cost us anything, it was awesome. Then a friend of ours help make the money really go as far as it could and we got a really good looking video out of it I think.
B: Have you seen it Angie?
A: No…
M: It’s great umm there’s us we’re in it…
A: And of course I heard about the girls supposedly smashing car…
M: Yeah, there’s a girl smashing a car, it’s real heavy on the plot line (laughing) but I don’t know it’s a real fun video, it’s cool to watch. Our friend Jamie the director he tried to give it a good look too the way the actual film came out, I’m pretty happy about it and I think it will help.
A: Matt joined the band in 2001, had you ever sung before that?
M: I was in a band before that yes…
A: Did you sing?
M: No, not really…
B: It was more screaming…
M: Yeah it was more screaming or like weird punkish, I don’t know it was just fast and a little heavy but it wasn’t too hard. I did take singing lessons later on cause definitely there was some things I knew I could learn to be a better singer, being a singer is great… next one (laughing) I don’t know where I was going with that one… Definitely best interview ever (laughing)
A: The Getaway has always been an infamous band for bad-luck, what’s the worst incident on the road to date, the stolen equipment bit…?
M: That was easily the worst thing that has ever happened to us…
A: What happened exactly?
M: In Quebec City our van got broken into Bart’s head got stolen, his guitar got stolen and two of Adrian’s bass’s got stolen, they didn’t get in the trailer which I guess is good but they got all the good shit cause that was about eight thousand dollars worth of gear, just gone. Insurance wouldn’t cover it either, plus they smashed our window and to add insult to injury it got extremely cold in the van so it died and we had to get towed to the next show but we made the next show, call me a sell-out! (laughing)
A: So do you think The Getaway would ever survive as a straight edge band…
M: Oh god as a straight-edge band (laughing), you know I have a lot of respect for anyone who can deprive themselves of something, I might not understand their reasons but if that’s what you need to get through life then that’s cool, I have quite a few friends that are…
B: No we cannot survive as a straight edge band…
M: And how good are beers right after a show and this is the, well maybe not the best but definitely a bonus of getting betterr support tours is that there’s free beer and we’re pretty excited about that to have that at a show.
A: Hey there’s Wonderland!!!
M: And there’s more buses and vans actually…
A: And Matt what’s www.mattwesley.com all about?
M: Oh that’s just my joke site…
A: Now cause of this you’ll get a bunch of hits…
M: I actually get about a thousand a day, no, no I don’t.. It’s nothing exciting. What is all this traffic about? Oh yeah sorry…
A: Actually that’s it, want to add anything…
M: Thanks to everyone, who supported us, thanks to anyone who has taken an interest in us, thanks!